Everyone paints a picture of life is sheer bliss with a newborn, or atleast that's what we were told. The only thing people said was, "you won't be getting much sleep" and "your life will never be the same"! haha okay, yes both of these are pretty much true, but there is SO MUCH that no one told us or prepared us for... so here it is! haha Yes, Charles and I thought it was important to write this to be honest with how our first 3 weeks have been and to look back and laugh at this once she's grown and/or when we have other babies to see how life compares.
Birth/Hospital
As stated in the labor story, it didn't go how we wanted it to go, but overall, it went well. It was a brief part of our journey (about 3 days) with the labor and post partum hospital stay. The worst part was after Brooke was born. It was overwhelming and exhausting having someone knock on the door what seemed like every 5 minutes day and night. Yes, this test, that test, did you pee, did she poop, check her vitals, change sheets and towels, food, family, lactation consultants... wow, I was stressed and just ready to get home! Thankfully, Brooke did well and passed all the tests, though we HATED the hearing test and heal prick, we had a good time at the hospital and have no reservations about having another child.
Breastfeeding
This may be TMI but it's my blog and I'm going to write what I want to write :) haha I started "leaking" at about 26 weeks. As soon as Brooke was born, she was handed to me and I was encouraged to try to nurse her. She did great! I felt like a natural, even though everyone had told me it's the most "unnaturally natural" thing. She ate great, pooped and peed like she was suppose to and we didn't have any trouble. Two different lactation consultants came in and both didn't have any advice to offer because whatever I was doing was perfect. I was so happy! I actually prayed numerous times during my pregnancy that nursing would go well. Was I sore the first few days, yes. Did it go away... yes.
My milk came in the day we came home from the hospital, she got confused a little bit because of the consistency and then got a hold of it and hasn't had any issues since! I didn't use any creams and I didn't crack and bleed and I was never uncomfortably engorged. She eats now every 2-3 hours and goes between 6 and 4 hours apart at night.
I apparently had too much milk so the recommended 15 minutes on each side didn't give her enough foremilk and hindmilk and she had seaweedy green poop. I googled this issue and it suggested just feed from one side per feeding. Do I look lopsided, haha sometimes! But that's okay, she's getting what she needs and her poop is back to the "normal" color. She is hilarious and poops during each feeding. She stops, grunts, makes a hilarious stank face and does her business. It's so funny!
I started pumping for work purposes and if me and Charles want to go out/have family watch her, or have Charles feed her. That's also going very well, though it's a lot more comfortable how she feeds as opposed to how the Medela Pump in style pumps, I guess she's more gentle or I'm use to her.
Crying
Ha. hahahaha. What on earth. Our child likes to cry, for no reason, randomly and other times shes a dream! The whole purple cry/colic is ridiculous and frustrating. Seriously, some nights (anytime after 5) she will flip a switch and just scream. She's full, clean, warm, loved, and is still screaming her head off like she's in excruciating pain. It's frustrating. You try everything from walking, to bouncing, to laying her down, to gripe water, swing, swaddling, shhhhing, pacifier, and on and on and on. You get ticked at each other because you each have different ways of soothing her (and obviously you think your way is right) while the other just wants to experiment and try things out. The shrill scream grates on your nerves. You pray countless times to take this demon out your sweet child's body and return her to a peaceful bundle of joy. You want her to stop, breath and rest. You feel absolutely helpless, like you're a bad parent, and then she falls asleep. You have no idea what worked to calm her down, but you're thankful. You hug your spouse and apologize for getting "snippy" and reinforce your love for one another and your love for your child.
This purple cry phase is suppose to last anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months. She's great somedays, and terrible others. She loves to be held, but is okay sometimes by herself. I can't always get as much done as I want, but I stop and realize how selfish I am and sit on the couch and cuddle my sweet daughter and thank the Lord for her precious life.
Sleep
Everyone says "sleep when the baby sleeps", yes, this is a good thought but if your baby likes to be held as much as Brooke, you can't do this. Or I can't. I can't hold her and sleep, I'm too afraid I'll get too relaxed and drop her. Also, I didn't nap since my first trimester and am to much of a busy body to stop and nap during the day, so I don't.
Bedtime has been great! She started out not sleeping well in her crib, so we used a little hinged bouncy seat. She sleeps great in her crib now with a white noise machine. She likes to be swaddled and sometimes uses a pacifier to calm her down. She is great at night. I normally float between our bedroom and the guest bedroom any given night. It all depends on how long it takes her to fall back asleep and if Charles is snoring (because I can't put in ear plugs, or I won't hear the monitor, and I can't sleep if he's snoring). haha she didn't like the bassinet in the pack in play by the bed, and Charles couldn't sleep with her in the room because she was too noisy. Seriously, she grunts, squeals, squeaks and crys and then falls back asleep, it's hilarious. I get anywhere from 4-6.5 hours of sleep a night, I'm not exhausted, but I'm not one of those people that "require" 8 hours of sleep.
Emotions
I am so blessed to have not had any sever post postpartum sadness or depression. Yes, there are days when she's screaming and I feel helpless that I get sad that we don't have a peaceful independent baby. Then there are other days, like today, that she is great and I get the whole house cleaned, go on a walk with her, do laundry and write a blog post. I also prayed for this. The whole post partum depression scared me. I wanted to love myself, my child and my husband, and it broke my heart to hear stories of ladies who felt like a zombie or a shell of themselves. I healed emotionally and physically very fast. I used the 800 ibuprofen for less than a week after Brooke was born.
The only thing that I have gotten frustrated/sad about is the lack of time I get to see Charles. Yes, that part has really changed. He does work full time and is about to finish his MBA (next week, woot woot)!!! But spending day and night with a baby is exhausting. When he gets home he has to do homework, and I get upset because I think he doesn't want to spend time with me or Brooke, but that's simply not true. He will be done with Grad School soon and he is AMAZING at helping me with her! He is so fun to watch when they play, dance, sing and spend time together. He takes her and lets me shower or send an email, and he loves it when he gets to wake her up/get her out of bed. She's our sweetness and we love her so much!
Well, that was a lot of words! haha sorry I was going to add pictures but she's probably going to wake up soon so this is what you get!!! I'm sure that's not everything, but it's all I could think of. This was just a little glimpse into our life with child. No, it's not peaceful and perfect, but it's our life and we're thankful for it! We love you so much Brooke!!!
